Duke-Michigan v2

[bigboyBlue]

Not a bad first half from UM. It will be interesting to see what kind of second half changes both teams can make.

[hail2mich]

What a Win!!!

[bigboyBlue]

Holy fuck!!! Oh we better go dancing this year!!

[The Michigan Man]

Wow! Have they arrived? What an amazing victory. The way that Beilin had them turn up the heat instead of sitting back and playing "prevent" is what won that game. The aggressive nature of this team, witnessed on national television today, is going to have a lot of people looking at Michigan if they can keep winning in the Big 10.

UCLA and Duke within a few weeks? Guess we should have fired Beilin last year, right?

[GoDeepHammer]

Great game for these kids. Great for recruiting too.

[bigboyBlue]

On a related note, Suckeyes might just knock off #7 Notre Dame. What a great day for Big Ten BBall!

[1OSUNUT]

Congrats !!!!!!!!!! I love the fact that ANY Big Ten team beat Duke. Sims is a beast and Michigan showed poise beyond their years down the stretch. Duke made a few threes in the last 2:30 but Michigan made a few shots and free throws to keep Duke at bay. Very nice win UCLA and now Duke - it seems Michigan basketball is on pace to get back quicker then football is.

I'm surprised at how well both Ohio State and Michigan are playing so far this season. Both have ompressive wins and the season has just started. If I'm not mistaken Duke ran Big Ten favorite Purdue right out of their own gym this week.

[Medic]

WOW 2 top 5 teams in a couple weeks are you kidding me?


edit: made all the sweeter by beating Duke

[The Michigan Man]

These 2 big victories against perennial Final 4 teams will do wonders for recruiting. There were a lot of kids watching these nationally televised games that saw a very exciting style of basketball played by Michigan, beating elite teams in front of a very loud, rowdy home crowd (for the Duke game). Today could be the catalyst for the return we've been waiting for for over 10 years.

[bigboyBlue]

it seems Michigan basketball is on pace to get back quicker then football is.

How? BBall had its worst losing season last year. This turnaround is nothing short of spectacular.

Football is right on track, we've had the worst season and will now have the transfers. We'll have key freshmen playing well next year, just like Novak this year.

If RRod can replicate this feat even by 50%, it'll be siginificant.

[primetime101]

What a huge WIN!!!!!!!!!!!! Beilein is one of the best coaches in the country.

[Mich Fan in Cbus]

Nice win for us today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Much needed...

[GoGreen23]

Wow, I wasn't even paying attention to basketball tonight but then I actually checked the score. Haha, good job Michigan!! Hopefully they can keep it up and get a couple of conference wins this year, shake it up a bit.

[Todd]

Beilein 10-22 last season. Has already beaten UCLA and Duke early in his second season. Can't wait to see what Rodriguez does in his sophomore campaign. The future is bright in Ann Arbor!

[Wolvrin704]

Congrats !!!!!!!!!! I love the fact that ANY Big Ten team beat Duke. Sims is a beast and Michigan showed poise beyond their years down the stretch. Duke made a few threes in the last 2:30 but Michigan made a few shots and free throws to keep Duke at bay. Very nice win UCLA and now Duke - it seems Michigan basketball is on pace to get back quicker then football is.



Thanks for the kind words. But I too question how you say bball is on pace of getting back quicker than football when RR has just finished his 1st season while Beilein is startin ghis 2nd, thus is a year ahead of his counterpart. Realistically UM basketball has been in rebuild since 1998, the last year they went ot the Big Dance and I don't see football being down that long.

Great win guys! :D

[1OSUNUT]

Just based on the number of kids on a team and how much one on one teaching a coach can provide basketball is always a quicker rebuild then football. Where RR might need 15 to 20 kids to really be good - Beilein might only need 2 or 3. Sims is a monster and he has a fairly good supporting cast - you can build around that and work with that. That is why small schools can compete with big schools in basketball. There is a lot of good players and only so many scholerships. Pretty much any school that gets a good coach in place can rebuild a program pretty fast - it's not that easy in football.

[deltguy2]

What an awsome game to witness. This was my first time at Chrisler Arena and let me say that it was loud and that student section was awsome with a capital A as Dicky V would say. What an experience trying to get to the actual game though. Snow storm all the way from Bowling Green, then we find out that Rt. 23 is shut down both NB and SB because of a fatal crash. We had to detour up 75 to Detroit and cut over on 94 in a freakin' blizzard!! Got to our seats right at tip off so it was all good. Seeing this win was well worth the 3 hour drive that turned into 5 hours.

Let me just say this, Novak is the man. This kid can shoot the lights out. Everytime he spotted up for a 3 the whole crowd stood silent and as they kept hitting nothing but net, the crowd erupted. Wow, was a difference a year make's ehh?

Make's you winder how RichRod's sophmore season will be...

[bigboyBlue]

Just based on the number of kids on a team and how much one on one teaching a coach can provide basketball is always a quicker rebuild then football. Where RR might need 15 to 20 kids to really be good - Beilein might only need 2 or 3. Sims is a monster and he has a fairly good supporting cast - you can build around that and work with that. That is why small schools can compete with big schools in basketball. There is a lot of good players and only so many scholerships. Pretty much any school that gets a good coach in place can rebuild a program pretty fast - it's not that easy in football.

I'd agree with the general direction of your argument, except that the lack of remotely decent QB play has been so evident this year; if you can't pass it screws up your run game, it keeps your D on the field longer....its all a downstream effect. I think we win 3-4 more games if we have a QB who can make even the most basic plays. I know we'll prolly have a frosh QB next year, but it will still be a step up.

[rickyleach]

nut, and now your an expert at this too. oh brother.....

[RealSchool]

Is it wrong to say I like coach K? He is hated down here in Raleigh outside of the Duke campus, but he represents what is right with college sports to me.
The majority of his players however are complete d-bags.

[Wolvrin704]

Just based on the number of kids on a team and how much one on one teaching a coach can provide basketball is always a quicker rebuild then football. Where RR might need 15 to 20 kids to really be good - Beilein might only need 2 or 3. Sims is a monster and he has a fairly good supporting cast - you can build around that and work with that. That is why small schools can compete with big schools in basketball. There is a lot of good players and only so many scholerships. Pretty much any school that gets a good coach in place can rebuild a program pretty fast - it's not that easy in football.

I too would agree with your assesment except that at UM basketball has always been a secondaty sport so it makes it harder to recruit (how mnay top 25 recruiting classes have you seen recently?) whereas in football they are a traditional powerhouse so it makes it easier to recruit. Look at the class we're hauling in this season, you have to admit we're still getting some monsters to go along with those that we got last year.

The football program is not a rebuild job, its a retool job. Whereas basketball was a total rebuild job at a non-traditional basketball school.

[bigboyBlue]

16th in the RPI standings, SOS rank = 5. Woo!

[amazinblue]

Is it wrong to say I like coach K? He is hated down here in Raleigh outside of the Duke campus, but he represents what is right with college sports to me.
The majority of his players however are complete d-bags.

Some great comments. RealSchool - I like Coach K as well - he does it most every year - year in and year out, playing in a VERY tough conference. I used to live in ACC country and the only thing people talk about is hoops year round. With Roy Williams at Carolina, they have been a beast, and will continue to be a beast every season.

I'm glad to see our BB team come up with some big wins - particularly since it's early in the season, against strong OOC teams, and positions us well for the Big 10 season and potentially an invitation to The Dance. And, though Duke had trouble hitting threes yesterday, I like that Duke beat Purdue in West Lafayette, and lost to Michigan at Crisler. The addition of Perry in a couple of weeks can only make the team even better.

And, an additional benefit is that I'm pretty sure a few of the football recruits checked out some (maybe all) of the game at Crisler, and if the atmosphere was rocking (which it seemed to be on TV) - then that would just energize the recruiting even more. Imagine the atmospher at Crisler times seven or eight - which is the capacity of Michigan Stadium.

Go Blue.

(And, I was glad to see OSU handle ND - strong OOC wins for the Big 10 are good, in any sport.)